Police release suspect in attempted killing of pastor in India
Four men ambushed 39-year-old pastor Dinesh Kumar as he left Mohiuddinpur village, Mau District on his motorbike on May 28, beating him with clubs so severely that he lost consciousness. A deep wound to his head required 16 stitches, a cut on his arm seven stitches, and he sustained internal injuries; seeing the wound on his arm, a doctor asked his wife if he had been shot.
Under pressure from an official in the ruling Hindu nationalist political party, police in Uttar Pradesh state, India have released without charges a suspect in the attempted killing of a pastor last month, sources said.
“When we entered the police station for the identification process, the attacker was treated like a VIP, not as a criminal,” Deepak Kumar, brother-in-law of the pastor, told Morning Star News. “He was released the same day, even after we insisted that he is the one.”
Police went to Pastor Kumar while he was still in the Intensive Care Unit of Prakash Hospital in Mau to ask if he knew the names of any of the assailants, and he did not give one, the head of the Madhuban police station told Morning Star News. Pastor Kumar said he later called the police station to report that he recognized one of the assailants.
“I had often seen this man in the village when I visited the Christians,” “That day too, he was sitting right opposite the house of the family who had invited me.” he said.
Due to coronavirus social distancing measures, Pastor Kumar was standing outside the house of the family that had invited him, praying for a sick member and reading from the Bible, he told Morning Star News.
“I noticed him while I was sharing from the Word of God that he was observing me,” he said of the man opposite the house. “Later when he attacked me, I could clearly recognize him, but I did not know his name. I inquired of the villagers the name of the person, and only then could I report his name to the police.”